• Prince was a musical phenomenon, a cultural icon, and a global sensation.
• He was found unresponsive inside an elevator and died of an accidental overdose at 57.
• As his friends and associates revealed, he experienced severe pain in his hands and appeared frail before his death.

Born on June 7, 1958, Prince Rogers Nelson, known as Prince, was a product of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His musicians’ parents named him after his father’s stage name, Prince Rogers.

His father was a crucial figure in the 1950s music scene, leading the Prince Rogers Trio, a jazz group that performed in North Side clubs and community centers. Prince’s parents’ musical union, which began at the Blue Note jazz club, eventually became a romantic relationship.

They welcomed their son Prince not long after their wedding. However, when Prince was seven, they separated and eventually divorced. This abrupt change in his life had a profound impact on him.

Prince’s childhood was challenging as he grew up in poverty. In a 1985 interview, he once shared how he would stand outside a McDonald’s on Plymouth Avenue, the North Side’s main strip, just to smell the food because he couldn’t afford any.

This hardship fueled his anger and insecurity, often leading to conflicts with others. “Poverty makes people angry, brings out their worst side. I was very bitter when I was young. I was insecure, and I’d attack anybody. I couldn’t keep a girlfriend for two weeks. We’d argue about anything,” he said.

Despite the turmoil at home, Prince found solace in music. His father’s departure from their home gave Prince the courage to start playing the piano himself. He began by picking out the melodies to theme songs from popular television shows. Prince’s dedication to his craft propelled him to the pinnacle of the music industry, amassing a vast fanbase.

But in 2016, at 57, his life was tragically cut short. He was discovered lifeless in an elevator at his home, Paisley Park. In the week preceding his death, Prince’s private jet was forced to make an unscheduled landing while returning from a concert in Atlanta when he lost consciousness.

Judith Hill, a fellow passenger and singer, disclosed in an interview that Prince had exhibited symptoms of depression. She remembered how he had fallen asleep during the flight to Atlanta and had made a striking remark, “Oh man! I love sleeping more. Maybe it means I’ve done all I’m supposed to do on earth.”

Additionally, Judith shared that Prince said he had felt like sleeping during his second show. She found the behavior peculiar as it was unlike him, given that he was typically most energetic when performing on stage.

Kirk Johnson, Prince’s friend and bodyguard, revealed that a week before the emergency landing, the musician had consulted Dr. Schulenberg, a Minnesota-based family physician, and received fluids due to feeling unwell. Prince had been experiencing a tingling sensation in his arms and signs of dehydration.

Kirk had escorted Prince to the 212 Ridgeview emergency center a few years earlier when the musician had complained of extreme dehydration. Kirk was under the impression that the singer had fully recovered after that episode. Nonetheless, in the days leading up to his death, Prince seemed “frail,” per Kirk’s observation.

He noted that Prince’s health “always kinda goes up and down,” so he had not thought much of it. Dr. Schulenberg stated that Prince had been experiencing numbness and a tingling sensation in his right leg below the knee and both hands, a feeling he likened to “pins and needles.”

On April 7, 2016, during a consultation with Dr. Schulenberg, Prince was asked if he was taking any prescription medicine. He refuted taking any but acknowledged having medication for the numbness and tingling in his hands and right leg, the specifics of which he was uncertain.

That day, Schulenberg refrained from prescribing anything, but he later admitted to prescribing medication for opiate withdrawal on April 20. The following morning, on April 21, at around 9:43 a.m., sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a medical emergency at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen.

They arrived with medical personnel to find an unresponsive male in the elevator. Despite their best efforts at CPR, they were unable to bring him back. Prince was declared dead at 10:07 a.m. The investigative report attributed Prince’s death to Fentanyl toxicity and classified it as accidental.

Two years post Prince’s demise, Schulenberg faced accusations of unlawfully prescribing an opioid painkiller for Prince a week before his death. He consented to a $30,000 settlement to resolve a federal civil violation.

This settlement between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Schulenberg was reached as state prosecutors were deliberating on whether to press any criminal charges from their two-year investigation into Prince’s death.

Federal prosecutors and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration alleged that Schulenberg, who had consulted with Prince at least twice before his death, contravened the Controlled Substances Act by prescribing medication in another person’s name on April 14, 2016.

Schulenberg informed authorities he prescribed oxycodone to Prince on April 14 and listed it under Kirk’s name “for Prince’s privacy.” Oxycodone, the generic form of the active ingredient in OxyContin, was not identified as a contributing factor in Prince’s death.

Nearly a year after his death, his ex-wife, Mayte Garcia, opened up about how Prince dealt with the loss of their child. The couple had a son, Amiir, who passed away from a rare genetic disorder when he was just one week old. She said, “It’s the worst thing that ever happened to me and to him.”

A week after Amiir’s demise, they appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show. When asked about their baby, he sidestepped the question by saying, “Our family exists. It’s all good, never mind what you hear.” Mayte became pregnant again but, unfortunately, suffered a miscarriage.

The loss of two children took a toll on their marriage, and their relationship never recovered. Even though he left no children to continue his legacy, Prince’s exceptional musical talent left an indelible mark in the hearts of his fans.

His musical prowess garnered him numerous awards. In 1984, he bagged his first three career Grammys, one of which was for Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special for “Purple Rain.”

The subsequent year saw Prince winning an Oscar for “Purple Rain.” His 1987 album, “Sign O’ The Times,” was honored with induction into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2017. Prince accumulated 30 awards and was nominated 76 times throughout his distinguished career.

The aftermath of Prince’s death triggered a significant increase in his music sales. The bulk of his album and song sales took place in the month after his death, with 5.65 million units sold between April 21 and May 19, 2016. Prince outperformed all other artists in album sales in 2016, with 2.23 million copies sold.